First off, I have CP, which is a "mobility disorder," so I totally understand that Movement =/= Character (or rather that "Quality of Movement" =/= "Quality of Character"). But even someone who lives with "Locked In Syndrome" has a beating heart, and that's movement. And even someone who has no capability of voluntary movement, can feel the sensation of movement, and can move through the world with the aid of technology.
And even trees and plants -- things that we consider "immobile" grow their roots and branches, and that's movement, too.
Second, I'm fresh from watching the Brain Series of programs on Charlie Rose, where he talked with a range of different scientists on our emerging understanding on the biology of the brain and consciousness. And in the segment on motor function and how that influences the way we perceive our own minds, one neurobiologist cited the case of an animal called the Sea Squirt, which, in its larval stage, swims through the water, and has a simple brain and central nervous system. But then, as it matures, it becomes a sedentary filter feeder, anchored on rocks. And the first thing it does is digets its own brain and nerves, for food, because it doesn't need them, anymore.
And yes, I know -- fantasy literature can create its own world, with its own rules, independent of factual science; but I like to build my metaphors around at least a seed of what I know about the actual world around me.
"Brain" =/= "Mind" or "Soul" (necessarily).
But "Intelligence" <--> "Deciding" <--> "Navigating the Outside World" <--> "Causing Change" did seem, to me, to be as good a starting point as any for understanding fictional character.
Re: Hmm...
First off, I have CP, which is a "mobility disorder," so I totally understand that Movement =/= Character (or rather that "Quality of Movement" =/= "Quality of Character"). But even someone who lives with "Locked In Syndrome" has a beating heart, and that's movement. And even someone who has no capability of voluntary movement, can feel the sensation of movement, and can move through the world with the aid of technology.
And even trees and plants -- things that we consider "immobile" grow their roots and branches, and that's movement, too.
Second, I'm fresh from watching the Brain Series of programs on Charlie Rose, where he talked with a range of different scientists on our emerging understanding on the biology of the brain and consciousness. And in the segment on motor function and how that influences the way we perceive our own minds, one neurobiologist cited the case of an animal called the Sea Squirt, which, in its larval stage, swims through the water, and has a simple brain and central nervous system. But then, as it matures, it becomes a sedentary filter feeder, anchored on rocks. And the first thing it does is digets its own brain and nerves, for food, because it doesn't need them, anymore.
And yes, I know -- fantasy literature can create its own world, with its own rules, independent of factual science; but I like to build my metaphors around at least a seed of what I know about the actual world around me.
"Brain" =/= "Mind" or "Soul" (necessarily).
But "Intelligence" <--> "Deciding" <--> "Navigating the Outside World" <--> "Causing Change" did seem, to me, to be as good a starting point as any for understanding fictional character.